WEN-CHUNG CHOU

(b 1923 )

Having qualified in China as an engineer, Chou Wen-chung moved to Yale to study architecture, turning, a week later, to the study of music at the New England Conservatory. He later studied privately with Martinů and Varèse, subsequently serving as the latter’s editor. From 1964 he taught composition at Columbia University, winning wide distinction as a composer and as an investigator of philosophies of music, the result of his researches into traditional Chinese music.

Orchestral, Instrumental and Vocal Music

Chou Wen-chung has drawn inspiration for a number of works from Chinese sources, sometimes in melodic patterns, sometimes from calligraphy or poetry, and sometimes in imitated instrumental timbres. For some time he has found an aesthetic for his work in Taoist principles of universal harmony.

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